The COVID-19 crisis demonstrates the need to invest much more in pre-disaster risk reduction and preparedness for a range of risks, including climate change and its accompanying hazards such as flooding. But what, asks Swenja Surminski, does this kind of investment need to consider in practice – and why is ‘resilience’ not already widely taken into account when making policy and investment decisions? Read more
The Philippines is highly exposed to natural hazards including typhoons. This report, finding that financial aid tends to be heavily focused on response to hazards rather than preparedness and resilience, investigates why further disaster risk policy intervention may be required at the local level and provides guidance to policymakers. Read more
This global review of adaptation laws and policies has been undertaken to understand how adaptation to climate change is governed at the national level. It highlights the common areas of focus and also apparent gaps in these laws and policies, making recommendations for policymakers and further research. Read more
Disasters such as hurricanes can open a window of opportunity when these act as ‘focusing events’ on the policy agenda. This paper explores the ‘focusing power’ of Hurricane Sandy in the context of New York City during 2012 and beyond. Read more
As sea levels rise with climate change there is pressure to protect the coast but while individual properties may benefit from seawalls, neighbouring properties may experience negative effects due, for example, to accelerated beach loss. This paper investigates the impacts of seawalls on property values in San Diego and Santa Cruz. Read more
This report is the result of the multi-sectorial and multi-disciplinary networking process and represents the combined effort of more than... Read more
Surminski, Swenja (2016) Investigating the risk reduction potential of disaster insurance across Europe. The Geneva Papers on Risk and Insurance... Read more
